JULY 2, 2005

A non-championship race in October?

The seven Michelin teams who withdrew from the US Grand Prix have offered to race for free at Indianapolis after the end of the season. The idea has been put to Bernie Ecclestone and he will be talking to Tony George about the idea.

"We said we'd do it if that was something that would supplement the already generous package offered by Michelin," Ron Dennis said. "We can only try and demonstrate by our actions and our proposals our acceptance that, innocent we may be, we were party to the problem. It's for them to decide whether they want to take up the option or not."

The proposal is to hold the race on October 23, a week after the final race in China. The big problem would be the weather as the temperatures in Indiana would be considerably lower than in June. There is less rainfall at that time of year but temperatures average at 12-degrees C which is considerably colder than June when the average temperature is 22-degrees C. There more cloudy days.

The biggest question however is whether or not Ferrari would go to a non-championship race and whether the lack of Ferrari would drive down the crowd numbers. There are also problems with accommodation as there are several big conventions already planned for Indianapolis that week.

The final question is whether or not the world's media would pay any attention to such an event. After an expensive year on the road, the media organisations may not have much interest in such an event.